If Saline Implants Leak, Can It Be Left in Place?

You friend will probably want them out at some point, but as long as they are not giving her any problems, she should be fine to leave them in until she is ready for ananesthetic.
 

Saline implants have a silicone shell and are filled with sterile saline. Saline is a fluid that we use for intravenous volume replacement. (If you present to the emergency room dehydrated, they give you IV saline.) So if your implant leaks, the saline is absorbed by your body, and you are left with the silicone shell that had been in there since the augmentation. The downsides to leaving them in are:
1) asymmetry - you could have a plastic surgeon intentionally deflate the other implant as an in-office procedure if you cannot undergo anesthesia at this point. There are some risks with this (such as introducing an infection onto the implant while deflating it, which would then make surgery a medical necessity), so discuss this option in detail with your surgeon if you are considering it.
2) the pocket around your implant will shrink a bit, so after some time you may have difficulty accepting the same size implant. In real life, this is not such a problem, as the walls of the pocket can be "scored" to allow a larger implant to be placed. It is just a slightly more invasive procedure than a simple implant exchange around the time of deflation.
I hope the medical issues are minor and resolve.
Regards,
Dr. B